Apple's report also details its electricity consumption and green efforts over the last year

Apple has made some considerable green contributions to the renewable energy effort recently, including the company's Maiden, North Carolina data center, which will feature the U.S.' largest end user-owned, onsite solar array.

According to Apple's 2012 Facilities Report and Environmental Update, which describes the company's energy savings and environmental footprint in Apple stores, data centers and R&D buildings, solar power will become a huge part of its Maiden, North Carolina data center. In fact, Apple is out to build the largest end user-owned solar array in the nation.

The onsite solar array surrounding the facility will be approximately 100 acres. It will be a 20-megawatt facility that will generate about 42 million kWh of clean energy on an annual basis. Next to it will be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation in the U.S. as well, which will be a 5-megawatt facility generating 40 million kWh of 24x7 baseload of renewable energy annually.

The data center has already received some attention from the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave it LEED Platinum certification. Apple also mentioned that no other data center of its size has been awarded such a high level of LEED certification.

In addition to the Maiden, North Carolina data center, Apple has been making other green efforts to reduce its negative environmental impact. In 2011 alone, Apple consumed 493 million kWh of electricity as well as 3 million therms of natural gas. According to the report, Apple used renewable energy efforts to escape about 30 million kilograms of CO2e emissions. It has also managed to convert 54 million kWh of consumption annually to renewable energy in facilities around the world.

In December 2011, Apple patent applications described two new fuel cell-powered mobile device patents called "Fuel Cell System to Power a Portable Computing Device" and "Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device."

The reason logical people (that is, the majority of scientists, even people in general) recognise that renewable energies are a good thing is because there is becoming an increasing need for them - as a natural consequence of running out of oil, which means that by a specific date or time, we have to have moved on from our oil dependence.

You have it backwards - you seem to think that we're artificially creating a need where one doesn't exist, and that that's somehow stopping the scientists (which doesn't make sense anyway). Actually, we're reaching logical conclusions based on the emerging need for alternative sources of energy. If there wasn't such a need, we wouldn't be such advocates. You yourself stated that when one energy runs out, we adapt to another. Unless you're suggesting we wait until the last drop of oil runs out, suffer through what would be one of the largest disasters of all time, and THEN start moving to solar power, your proposed adapting is exactly what scientists are already doing, and is already being implemented in projects like this one.

quote: it is manipulation of the laws that exist to get something desired.

Ask yourself why alternative fuel is desired. It's nothing to do with politics - it's because the CURRENT fuel is running out . Apply the 'equation' you refer to - people can see oil prices rising already, people know that it's running out and we need to find alternatives, therefore people are investing in renewable energy. Quite obvious.

And by the way - this discussion isn't even necessarily about economics. Whether it's more expensive or not, we have no choice but to move away from our dependence on oil. The original poster was simply stating that if we DON'T do what's necessary, the economy would collapse. Believe me, in a world which was as dependent on oil as we are today, which had no oil left - the economy WOULD collapse. So, to be clear, he was citing a consequence in terms of the economy of not adapting to renewable energies. NOT that the reason for pursing renewable energies was of itself primarily the economy - the primary reason is for us as a race to survive.